Verse 21:[1] And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of (Num. 27:1) Machir the father of Gilead, whom he married (Heb. took[2]) when he was threescore years old; and she bare him Segub.
[He went in] That is, into the bedroom, in order to lie with her; that is to say, he had an affair with her (Piscator).
Went in, that is, lay with her, as that phrase is commonly used, as Genesis 4:1; 6:4.
[To the daughter of Machir] The son of Manasseh, Genesis 50:23 (Menochius).
[The Father of Gilead] That is, the Prince or lord of Gilead (thus Lyra, Menochius, Mariana, Vatablus, Malvenda). Father is often put for Prince in this chapter (Mariana). Thus the father of Tekoa, verse 24, in the place of the Prince of Tekoa (Menochius). To this man Moses gave the land of Gilead, Numbers 32:40. Whence Jair, his great grandson, possessed many cities there (Mariana).
The father of Gilead; of a man so called. Or if Gilead be the name of that known country, father is put for head or governor, as it is used 1 Samuel 24:11; 2 Kings 5:13; 16:7; Isaiah 22:21; or for protector or curator, as father is used Job 29:16; Jeremiah 2:27; Lamentations 5:3; this man being a man of noted valour, and the great champion in those parts.
[He took her] He had taken her, understanding, to wife, or as a concubine (Vatablus). Because he is said to have gone in to her, and afterwards to have married her, Scripture appears to indicate, that he lay with her before he eventually married her (Osiander).
Whom he married; Hebrew, and he took her, to wit, to wife. Or, after he had taken her; for so the particle ו/vau is used, as hath been formerly noted. When he was threescore years old; Hebrew, and he was,[3] to wit, when he went in unto her, or when he married her.
Verse 22:[4] And Segub begat Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead.
[Jair] Who is called a son of Manasseh, Numbers 32:41, because from him was his grandmother, who was the daughter of Machir, verse 21, a son of Manasseh, Numbers 26:29 (Piscator).
[He possessed twenty-three cities] Which were given to him by the kinsmen of his grandmother, the sons of Machir (Vatablus). See what things we said on Judges 10:4 (Grotius). Question: How did Jair, who was of Judah, have possession in the land of Gilead? Responses: 1. Machir adopted his father, Segub, as a son. 2. Jair was a man of war, and recovered some cities in that very place, which the Syrians had seized from the children of Israel (Lyra).
Three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead: Which he had, though he was of the tribe of Judah, as here we see, because he married a daughter of Manasseh, Numbers 26:29, whence he is called a son of Manasseh, Numbers 32:41; Deuteronomy 3:14; and because, being a man of great courage, he joined himself with that half tribe in subduing Gilead, wherein he acted so valiantly and successfully, that he had twenty-three cities or great towns given to him to possess or dispose of; or rather, to rule over them, and have some advantage from them; as a king is said to have his kingdom, although he hath not the propriety of all the lands and houses in it.
Verse 23:[5] (Num. 32:41; Deut. 3:14; Josh. 13:30) And he took Geshur, and Aram, with the towns of Jair, from them, with Kenath, and the towns thereof, even threescore cities. All these belonged to the sons of Machir the father of Gilead.
[And he took Geshur and Aram, the towns of Jair,וַיִּקַּ֣ח גְּשֽׁוּר־וַ֠אֲרָם אֶת־חַוֹּ֙ת יָאִ֧יר מֵאִתָּ֛ם] And he took from them Geshur and Aram, the towns of Jair (Strigelius, Pagnine, similarly the Septuagint, Montanus, Arabic). And he captured Geshur and Aram with the towns of Jair from them (Dutch). The towns of Jair, that is, pertaining to that region that was called Jair (Menochius). And he captured Geshur and Aram (that is, the Geshurites and Arameans, or Syrians; compare Numbers 32:41 [Piscator, similarly Vatablus]), the villages of Jair, from those that were inhabiting them (Munster), namely, from the sons of Jair, the inhabitants of them; which David afterwards received, 2 Samuel 8 (Malvenda out of Vatablus). [Others thus:] For he received from the very Geshurites and Syrians the villages of Jair (Junius and Tremellius). Hebrew: for he took from the Geshurite and the Syrian the villages of Jair from them: it is ὑστέρωσις/hysterosis[6] (Junius). He took, Geshur and Aram, the villages of Jair, from them. The terms Geshur and Aram are put absolutely; that is to say, as far as Geshur and Aram are concerned, he took from them villages (Piscator). For Gilead was a part of Geshur, and to that extent of Syria. See Numbers 32:41, 42. Concerning Geshur, see Deuteronomy 3:14; 2 Samuel 3:3; 15:8 (Malvenda).
And he took, or, for he had taken. So this is the reason why he had so great a territory and jurisdiction given to him. Geshur and Aram; two cities or great towns so called. With the towns of Jair, that is, with those twenty-three cities which he is said to have, verse 22. From them, that is, from the former inhabitants, which is easily understood.
[With Kenath[7]] With Kenath (Junius and Tremellius). Likewise Kenath: the particle אֶת denotes the article of the accusative case (Piscator).
[And its hamlets[8]] Or villages (Junius and Tremellius). They better rendered it country districts, Numbers 32:42.[9] I translate it, and its towns, as what follows indicates. Moreover, because it is here narrated concerning the capture of Kenath, that, in the passage just cited, is attributed to a certain Nobah (Piscator). Hebrew: its daughters. There is a similar metaphor in the term metropolis[10] (Menochius, Junius and Tremellius).
[Of sixty cities] That is, sixty cities (Malvenda, Junius and Tremellius). Hence it appears that Kenath was a very powerful city, to which so many towns were subordinate (Piscator).
With Kenath; which was taken by Nobah, one of Jair’s commanders, sent by him to take it, as may be gathered from Numbers 32:41, 42.
[All those were the sons of Machir, etc.[11] (thus Munster, Montanus, Piscator, similarly the Arabic, Castalio)] All those, namely, the sons of Hezron, Segub, Jair, and Nobah (whose name is to be added here out of the book of Numbers). These are called the sons of Machir from their mother, the daughter of Machir. Sons, in the general sense (Piscator): posterity (Castalio).
[כָּל־אֵ֕לֶּה בְּנֵ֖י מָכִ֥יר אֲבִי־גִלְעָֽד׃] All those are the cities of the sons of Machir (Pagnine). All these the sons of Machir captured (Junius and Tremellius, Glassius[12]). There is an ellipsis of a word to be repeated out of the preceding member. See more fully above, 1 Kings 14:14 (Glassius’ “Grammar” 719).
To the sons of Machir; partly to his own sons, and partly to his son-in-law Jair, who by reason of that dear affection which was betwixt them and his forsaking his own tribe and kindred to fight for them, and to dwell with them, is here reckoned as his own son.
[circa 1471 BC] Verse 24:[13] And after that Hezron was dead in Caleb-ephratah, then Abiah Hezron’s wife bare him (1 Chron. 4:5) Ashur the father of Tekoa.
[When Hezron was death[14] (similarly all interpreters)] After these things, Hezron died (Syriac, Arabic, Pagnine, Osiander).
[Caleb went in to Ephratah, בְּכָלֵ֣ב אֶפְרָ֑תָה] Caleb came to Ephratah (Septuagint). In the place of the preposition ב/in, they read בָּא, he came in (Maraiana). When Caleb had taken Ephratah (Junius and Tremellius), or, when he had received to himself, as in verse 19 (Piscator). Hebrew: when Caleb to Ephratah, understanding, had approached, or had entered (Junius and Tremellius, Piscator). There is an ellipsis of the repeated verb (Piscator). Caleb came together with Ephratah (Castalio). [Others connect it with what precedes in this way:] After Hezron died in, or near, Caleb-Ephratah (Pagnine, Osiander, similarly Montanus), or, in the presence of Caleb in Ephratah (Munster, Strigelius), in the land of Caleb in Ephratah (Syriac, Arabic). Caleb-Ephratah is a composite name (Osiander), the name of a city so called from the man and his wife: it is Beth-lehem Ephratah (Vatablus).
Caleb-ephratah; a place then so called by a conjunction of the names of the man and his wife; afterwards supposed to be called Beth-lehem Ephratah. Others translate the words thus, When Caleb took Ephratah. So it is an ellipsis of the verb, which is here to be understood out of verse 19, where it is expressed. Abiah bare him Ashur, after the father’s death.
[Hezron also had a wife, Abiah] More correctly, Hezron had also had a wife by the name of Abiah (Osiander). Hebrew: and the wife of Hezron was Abiah, and she bare to him[15] (Montanus, Septuagint). The wife of Hezron, Abiah, begat to him Ashur, etc. (Tigurinus, thus Munster, Pagnine).
[The father of Tekoa] Either the founder (Malvenda), or the Prince, of the city of Tekoa (Malvenda out of Vatablus). The Father of the Tekoites (Junius and Tremellius, Piscator). It is Metonomy of the subject, for Tekoa is the name of a town, as it appears out of 2 Samuel 14:2, 4; Jeremiah 6:1; Amos 1:1 (Piscator).
The father of Tekoa; a known place, 2 Samuel 14:2, 4; Jeremiah 6:1; Amos 1:1; whose father he is called, because he was either the progenitor of the people inhabiting there, or their prince and ruler, or the builder of the city.
[1] Hebrew: וְאַחַ֗ר בָּ֤א חֶצְרוֹן֙ אֶל־בַּת־מָכִיר֙ אֲבִ֣י גִלְעָ֔ד וְה֣וּא לְקָחָ֔הּ וְה֖וּא בֶּן־שִׁשִּׁ֣ים שָׁנָ֑ה וַתֵּ֥לֶד ל֖וֹ אֶת־שְׂגֽוּב׃
[2] Hebrew: לְקָחָהּ.
[3] Hebrew: וְהוּא.
[4] Hebrew: וּשְׂג֖וּב הוֹלִ֣יד אֶת־יָאִ֑יר וַֽיְהִי־ל֗וֹ עֶשְׂרִ֤ים וְשָׁלוֹשׁ֙ עָרִ֔ים בְּאֶ֖רֶץ הַגִּלְעָֽד׃
[5] Hebrew: וַיִּקַּ֣ח גְּשֽׁוּר־וַ֠אֲרָם אֶת־חַוֹּ֙ת יָאִ֧יר מֵאִתָּ֛ם אֶת־קְנָ֥ת וְאֶת־בְּנֹתֶ֖יהָ שִׁשִּׁ֣ים עִ֑יר כָּל־אֵ֕לֶּה בְּנֵ֖י מָכִ֥יר אֲבִי־גִלְעָֽד׃
[6] That is, an inversion of order.
[7] Hebrew: אֶת־קְנָת.
[8] Hebrew: וְאֶת־בְּנֹתֶיהָ, and its daughters.
[9] Numbers 32:42: “And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof (וְאֶת־בְּנֹתֶיהָ), and called it Nobah, after his own name.”
[10] Literally, mother-city.
[11] Hebrew: כָּל־אֵ֕לֶּה בְּנֵ֖י מָכִ֥יר אֲבִי־גִלְעָֽד׃.
[12] Solomon Glassius (1593-1656) was a German Lutheran divine and critic. He was Professor of Divinity at the University of Jena. His Philologia Sacra was a groundbreaking work in Biblical Hebrew.
[13] Hebrew: וְאַחַ֥ר מוֹת־חֶצְר֖וֹן בְּכָלֵ֣ב אֶפְרָ֑תָה וְאֵ֤שֶׁת חֶצְרוֹן֙ אֲבִיָּ֔ה וַתֵּ֣לֶד ל֔וֹ אֶת־אַשְׁח֖וּר אֲבִ֥י תְקֽוֹעַ׃
[14] Hebrew: וְאַחַ֥ר מוֹת־חֶצְר֖וֹן.
[15] Hebrew: וְאֵ֤שֶׁת חֶצְרוֹן֙ אֲבִיָּ֔ה וַתֵּ֣לֶד ל֔וֹ.